The shortlist
4 things that do it.
A UK used car marketplace with search by make, model and postcode, expert car reviews and a recent-searches shelf.
- Free
- Not verified: the CarGurus UK homepage does not say whether searching is free for buyers.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Showing the history of a listing up front: its homepage says you can view price changes and time on the forecourt, and that the best deals come first with unbiased sorting.
- The catch
- UK only. The homepage does not state what buyers pay or how dealers are charged, so the buyer-side cost is not verified.
- web
- ios
- android
A UK marketplace of cars, vans and motorbikes from dealers; its homepage is headed 'Cars & Vans For Sale From 5000+ UK Dealers' and invites you to search 300,425 cars.
- Free
- Not verified: the pages we read do not say whether searching is free for buyers.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Browsing a very large UK dealer stock, with reduced-price cars showing the amount taken off and a link to the price history.
- The catch
- UK only, and the page shows a Beta label. Cazoo's own page says it has not yet built the perfect marketplace, and that two of its seven dealer commitments (replying to enquiries and handling complaints) are standards it is still working towards with dealers.
- web
- app
A US marketplace to buy and sell cars; its page title says 'Millions Listed, Prices & Deal Ratings'.
- Free
- Not verified: the CarGurus homepage does not say whether searching is free for buyers.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Judging whether a price is fair: it claims 'deal ratings you can actually trust', says it is the only site to identify overpriced cars, and shows fees upfront, price changes, accident history and days on lot.
- The catch
- US only, and the deal-rating claims are the vendor's own wording. Its Dealership Mode is described as comparing cars and estimating all-in prices at the dealership.
- web
- ios
A US marketplace titled 'Find New Cars, Used Cars, Dealerships, Prices & Reviews', with used-car browsing by brand and price band and a link to search nearby dealers.
- Free
- Not verified: the Cars.com pages we read do not say whether searching is free for buyers.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Browsing used cars by budget (it links to used cars under $5,000 and under $20,000) alongside a nearby-dealer search, reviews and specs, a loan calculator and certified pre-owned information.
- The catch
- US only. The pages we read do not state a buyer fee or show deal ratings, so there is nothing to compare against CarGurus on price rating.
- web
How they compare
Which one suits you, and why.
All four are marketplaces of dealer listings, but each leans on something different. We read each homepage and tested none of them, so we do not rank them.
If you are buying in the UK and want price history
CarGurus UK is the one that puts this up front. Its homepage says you can view price changes and time on the forecourt, and that the best deals come first with unbiased sorting. A car that has sat on the forecourt for a long time, or dropped in price more than once, tells you something the headline figure does not. The homepage also offers search by make, model and postcode, plus expert car reviews.
It is UK only. The homepage does not state what buyers pay or how dealers are charged, so the buyer-side cost is not verified.
If you want the biggest UK dealer stock
Cazoo's homepage is headed 'Cars & Vans For Sale From 5000+ UK Dealers' and invites you to search 300,425 cars. Cars marked as reduced show the amount taken off, with a link to the price history.
It is UK only and the page shows a Beta label. More on that below.
If you are buying in the US and want deal ratings
CarGurus (US) lists 'deal ratings you can actually trust' and says fees, price changes, accident history and days on lot are shown upfront. It also says it is the only site to identify overpriced cars. Those claims are the vendor's own wording and we have not tested them, so treat a rating as a starting point and compare the car with similar listings yourself.
It is US only.
If you are buying in the US and want to browse by budget
Cars.com groups used cars into bands such as under $5,000 and under $20,000, and adds a nearby-dealer search, reviews and specs, a loan calculator and certified pre-owned information. You can browse by brand and price band.
It is US only. The pages we read show no deal-rating feature, so there is nothing to compare against CarGurus on price rating.
What it costs
None of the four pages we read states a charge for buyers, so we cannot give a price for any of them. Whether searching is free for buyers is not verified. Cazoo's listings show dealer prices, such as £2,495 for a 2014 Citroen DS4, and that is the price of the car.
What to watch for
The catches worth knowing first.
Cazoo says on its own page that it has not yet built the perfect marketplace. Its dealer commitments include listing honestly and disclosing known defects, and it says points 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are underpinned by dealer advertising terms and by law. Points 4 and 7, replying to enquiries and handling complaints, are standards it is still working towards with dealers.
CarGurus UK and CarGurus US are separate sites for separate markets, so check you are on the one that matches where you are buying.
CarGurus US lists a Dealership Mode, which it describes as comparing cars and estimating all-in prices at the dealership. Whichever site you use, ask the seller for the total price before you commit.
The same shortlist, as a table
| Thing | Free tier | Paid from | Platforms | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CarGurus UK | Not verified: the CarGurus UK homepage does not say whether searching is free for buyers. | not checked | web, ios, android | UK only. The homepage does not state what buyers pay or how dealers are charged, so the buyer-side cost is not verified. |
| Cazoo | Not verified: the pages we read do not say whether searching is free for buyers. | not checked | web, app | UK only, and the page shows a Beta label. Cazoo's own page says it has not yet built the perfect marketplace, and that two of its seven dealer commitments (replying to enquiries and handling complaints) are standards it is still working towards with dealers. |
| CarGurus (US) | Not verified: the CarGurus homepage does not say whether searching is free for buyers. | not checked | web, ios | US only, and the deal-rating claims are the vendor's own wording. Its Dealership Mode is described as comparing cars and estimating all-in prices at the dealership. |
| Cars.com (US) | Not verified: the Cars.com pages we read do not say whether searching is free for buyers. | not checked | web | US only. The pages we read do not state a buyer fee or show deal ratings, so there is nothing to compare against CarGurus on price rating. |
How we checked
What we read, and what we haven't tested yet.
On 2026-10-09 we read the CarGurus UK homepage, the CarGurus US homepage, the Cars.com homepage and its used-car shopping page, the Cazoo homepage and Cazoo's 'Honestly, Finally' page. Autotrader's UK and US sites blocked our fetch with a 403 error, so they are not listed. The old Motors.co.uk address now redirects to Cazoo. None of the pages we read states a buyer-side fee, so free for buyers is not verified for any of them. Nothing was tested hands-on and we compared no listings.
If none of these fit
The manual way.
Autotrader in the UK and US, and Motors in the UK, are well known, but we could not read their pages, so we say nothing about them here. Whichever site you use, Cars.com's pages advise having a trusted mechanic inspect a used car before you buy it. Two related pages on this site are a website like Facebook Marketplace and a website that tracks prices.